About Dr Noritta
Dr Noritta Morseu-Diop is a First Nations woman from Tamwoy Town on Waiben — Thursday Island — in the Torres Strait. She graduated from The University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Social Work and later a Doctor of Philosophy, becoming the first Torres Strait Islander to graduate from UQ with a PhD, and the first Indigenous Australian to graduate with a PhD from UQ’s School of Social Work.
“Education is the key. Education pulled me out of poverty, education gave me the drive to carry on. It gave me the wings to fly.”
Dr Noritta · University of Queensland alumni profile
An academic, social worker and counselling practitioner, Dr Noritta has been working in and alongside Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities — and within non-Indigenous communities — throughout Queensland for well over thirty years. Her work spans grief and loss counselling, support and rehabilitation for incarcerated persons, cross-cultural education, and advocacy for Indigenous health, human rights, and social justice.
Dr Noritta’s doctoral research listened to Indigenous people inside the prison system — the people she calls the silent and forgotten — and asked what genuine healing and rehabilitation would look like on their terms. She published that research as Healing in Justice: Giving a Voice to the Silent and Forgotten People. In 2018 the University of Queensland honoured her with its Indigenous Community Impact Award, recognising her as an advocate for social justice and reform with extensive experience in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities throughout Queensland. She is also a Winston Churchill Fellow.
Dr Noritta joins Uncle Bill Lemson at St John’s Cathedral on Sunday 21 June 2026 to share her story — truth-telling, healing and justice, in the Yarning Circle. Come and Connect.
Sources: University of Queensland Alumni — Dr Noritta Morseu-Diop (2018); ANTaR Queensland Truth-Telling session notes (June 2026); Gallang Place. Compiled with care, with Uncle Bill’s direct knowledge of his guest.
21 June Yarning Circle with Dr Noritta
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— Uncle Bill Lemson